A sailboat mast. My parents had a smallish sailboat when I was a kid, and one day on the way back from the lake, the mast must have come off (it was tied down lengthwise to the boat on the trailer) and landed in a ditch in a country road somewhere. Dad turned around the moment he got home to go look for it, but it had disappeared in the intervening hour or so. Who steals a random aluminum pole? I like to think someone was planning ahead for Festivus.

The lousy thing was, because the sailboat was old and a very specific model, the mast was really, really expensive to replace

1. My yard waste bin. I put it out for pick up, but when I got home from work it was gone. It's rectangular so it's highly unlikely it could have been blown away by the wind, plus my trash can was still there.

2. My collapsible fabric bin (I can't think of the proper name for it offhand) that I used to haul yard waste from my yard to the bin.

I can't think of why anyone would want these, especially since they were well used and smelled like compost.

I also had some metal lawn ornaments stolen, but I'm pretty sure they were stolen to sell for scrap.

I had my 2 Adirondack chairs out but covered for the winter..someone came into my yard and took them...and I could follow their tracks in the snow to where they went, but it was an apartment building and I lost the trail. Guess they needed furniture! My sister had all her bras stolen out of a washing machine in a laundry room of her apartment building. She was so mad at her then DF (now DH) because she said he should have been watching the washers because others had complained of thefts. And the fact that she her bras are expensive (she is busty and needs good bras to keep the girls in check) and they got 6 of them..and the only one she had left was the one on her body..she was mad!

I had my 2 Adirondack chairs out but covered for the winter..someone came into my yard and took them...and I could follow their tracks in the snow to where they went, but it was an apartment building and I lost the trail. Guess they needed furniture! My sister had all her bras stolen out of a washing machine in a laundry room of her apartment building. She was so mad at her then DF (now DH) because she said he should have been watching the washers because others had complained of thefts. And the fact that she her bras are expensive (she is busty and needs good bras to keep the girls in check) and they got 6 of them..and the only one she had left was the one on her body..she was mad!

He is really lucky she still married him. (Feel free to tell him a random person on the internet said so)

The TSA stole my entire stash of bandaids. Luckily, they didn't steal the box, which is one of those great all metal Band-Aid boxes that I've saved, but it was completely emptied out. Since this was post-9/11, my suspicion is that they saw the box on luggage x-ray, opened the suitcase to check it out (without leaving the at-the-time-mandatory notice that they'd opened it), and then dumped them all out to their own stash, leaving me with the empty box.

The previous owners of my house had a bus stop post in the back courtyard garden when I bought the place. I'm guessing it was stolen at some point. The sort of thing that happens in scavenger hunts some of the local uni students used to run.

Mr. Thipu would regularly get neat free stuff from work. One of these was a big, beautiful, bright blue Maglite flashlight. It seemed just the thing to have in the library so I brought it to work.

One day, there was a minor emergency. The weather was fine but, all of a sudden, a torrent of water started to pour from the floor above. No books were damaged but the engineers and electricians were immediately called. Once they all arrived, things were chaotic for a while but the problem was identified as a leaky radiator.

The engineers and electricians left with happy nods, smiles and the Maglite. They knew it didn't belong to them because the logo of Mr. Thipu's company was quite prominently featured and there was a sticker with my name on it. We supposed they thought that such a magnificent thing belonged with men who could appreciate it instead of two female librarians.

We did get it back with apologies but it was an awkward time for all concerned.

Did the babysitter get caught in the mom's trap, or did she figure that one out? Did your mom replace your money, or were you out of luck?

Babysitter did get caught in the trap. Mom called her parents (she was 16 or 17) and had them come over to discuss it. They all denied it but paid my mom back the money anyway (less than $100.) My dad always suspected babysitter's dad of breaking into our garage and stealing his guns while we were on vacation. (Several reasons for his suspicions.) Their family was always willing to cheat the system and brag about it. Both babysitter and her brother ended up being arrested multiple times and parents always bailed them out. What a shock.

I think I remember my mom replacing most of my money for the State Fair. Heck, we were poor. Forty bucks was a lot of money for her too.

A used garbage bag. Years ago I was renting a house that had an open carport instead of a garage. I got home one day and immediately noticed that the recyling bin was full of garbage. Someone had apparently come into the carport, took a full bag of garbage out of the garbage can and emptied it into the recyling bin, taking the bag with them. If they were looking for something useful in the garbage, they must have been sorely disappointed since it was just dirty cat litter and food packages. I can't imagine why they would take a nasty used garbage bag with them, but I definitely didn't see it anywhere.

An 1886 silver dollar. This was about 10 years ago and it was a well worn coin that my grandfather had given me. Nowadays in that condition it would be worth about $15, maybe less. My grandfather had carried it with him during the war to remind him of his family, and at that point he had no existing ancestors, only descendants. I was his favorite grandchild so I inherited it during what would end up being my last visit to him before he died. I carried that thing everywhere. One day, in my senior year of high school, it was stolen from my gym locker. The thief didn't take the 20 dollar bill I had in my wallet right next to the coin for gas that afternoon, didn't take my emergency credit card and/or ID - nope, he took an old, worn coin that had sentimental value. My mother's only response to it was "you shouldn't have taken it to school." Wouldn't go to bat to ask the school to investigate, nothing. I asked around but nobody admitted knowing anything. I'm still angry and sad thinking about it.

There was another occasion when I was about 11. It was my birthday. Since it falls so close to Thanksgiving, my family often does a b-day/T-day gathering. On this particular year it was held at my parents' house. My brother had recently moved out and his room had been converted to a library/playroom for me. At the time I was very fond of My Littlest Pet Shop toys, the old style ones (the new ones are too cartoony for my taste) and had quite a few playsets as well as a couple of the larger storage containers. The closest relatives I had, age-wise, were second cousins- a boy nearly a year younger, a girl a couple years younger than that, and a girl that was at the time barely above a toddler. Well, at some point during the party my mother notices my cousin (the kids' mother) attempting to walk out the back door carrying the two storage containers, both stuffed full with quite a few pieces. She asks about it, and the mother announces that I had told her that they could have all my 'old toys' since I was too grown up for them now. My mother immediately knew it was a lie since I had asked for a playset of those very toys for THIS birthday, not to mention played with them all the time, etc. She didn't even ask me, just told the woman that was not going to happen and took the kits back. I happened on the scene as she was taking them back and freaked out. Later I found that some items were missing so I can only assume they left in the hands of that family. I mean, really, who steals toys from a relative ON THEIR BIRTHDAY?

This wasn't technically from me, but it did happen on my property. A neighbor was redecorating her husband's bedroom after his death, so she'd washed a bunch of blankets and sheets to donate to Goodwill and asked me if she could hang them on my clothesline while I was at work.

The next morning she knocked on the door and asked me if I knew where an old, ratty blanket and some worn sheets had gone. All the newer bedding was still there, but the oldest items had disappeared. We figured someone really needed some bedding but didn't have the money to pay for it and didn't feel right taking the newer stuff. Nothing I ever left out there was taken, and I lived there 18 years and often left things on the clothesline when I went to work.

I can't prove that it was actually stolen, but given the circumstances, the evidence is pretty strong towards that. In college, my family spent one Christmas on the west coast with my grandparents etc. And the rest of my dad's siblings, cousins etc. We flew out from the east coast.

I had just gotten my college ring, and was quite proud of it. Gold, and black onyx, with the school seal engravd in the onyx. we stayed with my grandparents, and the rest of the family was in and out. Grandma didn't have a dishwasher, so at one point, I took that, and several other rings off, and put them ON the table, to do the dishes. I finished up, came back, and all rings but that one were there.

we searched high and low, pulled the stove out, dumped the trash, nothing. it was gone. I have to say I think someone took it, but I couldn't tell you who, nor do I want to believe any of my relatives would do something like that. But it was never seen again.

The previous owners of my house had a bus stop post in the back courtyard garden when I bought the place. I'm guessing it was stolen at some point. The sort of thing that happens in scavenger hunts some of the local uni students used to run.

Like this:

I havent seen one of those for years! If you also have a garage full of street signs I know the culprits...